REM split up after 31 years

The band, considered one of the most influential groups of all time, as well as one of the most successful, announced their decision today (September 21) via their website REMhq.com.

Their joint statement read:

To all our fans and friends: as R.E.M, and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.

The band members went on to add their own personal messages.

Singer Michael Stipe wrote. “A wise man once said: ‘The skill in attending a party is knowing when it’s time to leave. We built something extraordinary together. We did this thing. And now we’re going to walk away from it. I hope our fans realize this wasn’t an easy decision; but all things must end, and we wanted to do it right, to do it our way. We have to thank all the people who helped us be R.E.M for these 31 years; our deepest gratitude to those who allowed us to do this thing. It’s been amazing.”

Guitarist Peter Buck added: “One of the things that was always so great about being in R.E.M was the fact that the records and the songs we wrote meant as much to our fans as they did to us. It was, and still is, important to us to do right by you. Being a part of your lives has been an unbelievable gift. Thank you.

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“Mike, Michael, Bill and Bertis [Downs, manager] and I walk away as great friends. I know I will be seeing them in the future, just as you know I will be seeing everyone who has followed us and supported us through the years. Even if it’s only in the vinyl aisle of your local record store, or standing at the back of the club; watching a group of 19 year olds trying to change the world.”

Bass player Mike Mills concluded: “During our last tour, and while making ‘Collapse Into Now’ and putting together this greatest hits retrospective, we started asking ourselves, ‘what next?’ Working through our music and memories from over three decades was a hell of a journey. We realised that these songs seemed to draw a natural line under the last 31 years of our working together.

“We have always been a band in the truest sense of the word. Brothers who truly love, and respect, each other. We feel kind of like pioneers in this – there’s no disharmony here, no falling-outs, no lawyers squaring off. We’ve made this decision together, amicably and with each other’s best interests at heart. The time just feels right.”

R.E.M formed in Athens, Georgia in 1980 and released 15 studio albums, from 1983’s ‘Murmur’ to this year’s ‘Collapse Into Now’. Drummer Bill Berry quit in 1997 to become a farmer, having suffered a brain aneurysm two years earlier. He was never officially replaced.

Scroll down the page to watch REM’s recent video ‘Mine Smell Like Honey’.